Quick Start

Install Elodin and start simulating.

Install

The Elodin toolkit has two parts: the Elodin CLI (which bundles the editor, headless runner, and elodin-db) and the Python SDK (used to author simulations).

Install the Elodin CLI

On macOS, Linux, or WSL:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/elodin-sys/elodin/releases/latest/download/elodin-installer.sh | sh
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/elodin-sys/elodin/releases/latest/download/elodin-db-installer.sh | sh

On Windows, download and run the latest elodin-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.msi from the releases page.

Verify the install:

elodin --version
elodin-db --version

Install the Elodin Python SDK

Install uv if you don't already have it:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Then create a virtual environment and install the SDK:

uv venv && source .venv/bin/activate
uv pip install -U elodin

Upgrading?

If upgrading from an older Elodin version, consult the migration guides.

Start Simulating

The examples below use examples/three-body/main.py. Clone the elodin repo to follow along:

git clone https://github.com/elodin-sys/elodin.git && cd elodin

macOS / Linux

Run the simulation and open the Editor in one command:

elodin editor examples/three-body/main.py

Windows (WSL)

Windows users run the simulation in WSL and connect the natively-installed Editor over localhost.

[wsl2]
networkingMode=mirrored

In a WSL terminal, start the simulation:

elodin run examples/three-body/main.py

In a Windows PowerShell terminal, launch the Editor and connect:

elodin.exe editor 127.0.0.1:2240

Perform Analysis

To analyze simulation data, use the Exec API to run the simulation for some number of ticks and collect the historical component data as a [Polars DataFrame]. The DataFrame can then be used to generate plots or perform other methods of data analysis.

Run the bouncing ball example code to see this in action:

The ball/plot.py example depends on matplotlib. Install it with uv:

uv pip install -U matplotlib

Then run the ball plot example (inside the same activated .venv):

python examples/ball/plot.py

For more information on data frames check out Polars DataFrame

Next Steps

Try out the following tutorials to learn how to build simulations using Elodin: